Fold with the grain,
sew through the fold.

1. Bend. Curl the sheet loosely one way, then the other. It offers less resistance when bending parallel to the grain.
2. Tear. Tear a scrap in both directions. The tear runs straight along the grain and wanders across it.
3. Water. Dampen one side of a small square. It curls into a tube, and the tube's axis runs with the grain.
4. Nail. Draw a thumbnail and forefinger along each edge. The edge cut across the grain ripples; the edge along it stays smooth.

Mills describe stock as long grain (grain parallel to the long edge) or short grain, or underline the grain-parallel dimension. Conventions differ between suppliers, so test a sheet anyway.

Office copier paper is nearly always long grain. That is why an A5 pamphlet folded from A4 cracks along its spine: the fold halves the long edge, so the grain crosses it. For a single-fold section buy short-grain stock, or start from a larger sheet and fold twice. The calculator below checks this for any sheet.

1. Fold each sheet on its own, sharpening the crease with a bone folder. Nest them with the heavier cover sheet outside and jog the block so the folds line up.
2. Open to the centre and mark three points on the fold: the middle, and two more 25–30 mm in from head and tail.
3. Pierce from the inside outward with an awl, over scrap board or in a V-shaped cradle. Keep the awl upright so the holes line up through every sheet.

Cut thread three times the spine height and draw it over beeswax.

1. From inside, pass out through the centre hole, leaving a 10 cm tail inside.
2. Come back in through the head hole.
3. Run the needle the length of the spine inside and out through the tail hole.
4. Back in through the centre. The needle end and the tail now sit on opposite sides of the long stitch.
5. Pull both ends to tighten, tie a square knot over the long stitch and trim to a centimetre.

For spines over about 20 cm add two holes halfway between the centre and each end, numbered 1 to 5 from the head. Path: out at 3, in at 2, out at 1, in at 2, along the inside to 4, out at 4, in at 5, out at 4, in at 3. Knot inside at the centre over the 2–4 stitch.

• A self-healing cutting mat and a steel rule with a non-slip back.
• A scalpel or snap-off knife with spare blades. Several light passes cut cleaner than one hard one; change the blade before it starts to drag.
• An HB pencil and a set square for checking corners.

• A bone folder. A PTFE one leaves no shine on dark paper.
• A fine awl with a straight, not tapered, shaft so holes stay one size through the section.
• A piercing cradle, which can be two pieces of card taped into a V.
• Bookbinding needles, size 18: blunt, so they follow the hole instead of making a new one.
• Unbleached linen thread, 18/3 for pamphlets and 25/3 for finer work, and a lump of beeswax to run it over.

• Two smooth boards and a weight — a brick wrapped in paper does — for pressing overnight.
• Later: pH-neutral PVA, a flat brush and a stack of waste paper to glue on.
• Store paper flat, wrapped, away from radiators and sunlight; wipe the folder; keep thread waxed and needles dry.